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25040Venturebeat.comNielsen is now tracking mobile games in an effort to expand in a streaming TV worldhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/05/03/nielsen-is-now-tracking-mobile-games-in-an-effort-to-expand-in-a-streaming-tv-world/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/03/nielsen-is-now-tracking-mobile-games-in-an-effort-to-expand-in-a-streaming-tv-world/#respondWed, 04 May 2016 01:01:49 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1941404Nielsen (you know, that group that’s always going on about TV show ratings) is entering a new entertainment market. The company revealed today that it is going to start gathering data and insight on mobile games. It’s calling the new program Mobile Game Tracking (MGT), and Nielsen will base it off of info gathered from a […]
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Nielsen (you know, that group that’s always going on about TV show ratings) is entering a new entertainment market.

The company revealed today that it is going to start gathering data and insight on mobile games. It’s calling the new program Mobile Game Tracking (MGT), and Nielsen will base it off of info gathered from a group of 1,200 mobile gamers each week. The mobile industry was worth $34.8 billion in 2015, according to market research firm Newzoo. Any data that shows which games are the most popular can help developers make more successful titles.

“In a rapidly changing mobile games market consumer behavior can often seem elusive and difficult to predict,” said Michael Flamberg, vice president and general manager of Games, Nielsen. “Nielsen Mobile Game Tracking allows developers to efficiently measure a mobile title’s potential, recognize strengths and weaknesses within the market, and to track their improvement over time. It’s an invaluable tool.”

While you can just look at app store rankings to see which games are most popular, more precise tracking can reveal information on specific demographics and the effectiveness of marketing. This also gives Nielsen a new market to work with as traditional TV continues to suffer from the wrath of cord-cutters.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/03/nielsen-is-now-tracking-mobile-games-in-an-effort-to-expand-in-a-streaming-tv-world/feed/01941404Nielsen is now tracking mobile games in an effort to expand in a streaming TV worldAmazon-style product ratings to hit Google Shopping moduleshttp://venturebeat.com/2014/07/31/amazon-style-product-ratings-to-hit-google-shopping-modules/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/31/amazon-style-product-ratings-to-hit-google-shopping-modules/#respondThu, 31 Jul 2014 14:41:25 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1517382Google's Shopping module on search results pages will soon feature a 5-star rating system for U.S. residents.
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How effective are product ratings in converting the casual googler into a buyer? Google is betting they are very effective, or so its latest move would seem to indicate.

Google intends to start displaying a 5-star rating below each product featured in the shopping module that frequently appears at the top of search results pages, according to a company blog post from July 29.

Never seen one of these modules? Here’s an example. That link takes you to a search results page that displays a five-product box entitled “Shop for nespresso pixie on Google.” Clicking the small “i” in the corner of the module reveals why you’re seeing it:

Based on your search query, we think you are trying to find a product. Clicking in this box will show you results from providers who can fulfill your request. Google may be compensated by some of these providers.
Prices do not include shipping costs. Additional shipping costs may apply. Prices shown include VAT and applicable fees.

Google’s adoption of a 5-star rating system — one that is identical to the system used by Amazon.com — is intended to “help differentiate products across google.com and google.com/shopping and will help merchants drive more qualified traffic through Product Listing Ads.”

If you’re one of Google’s merchant partners, this should seem like a no-brainer, right? Well, maybe.

Merchants don’t have to have a rating displayed against their products; they aren’t obliged to participate (for now). But do you really want your product to be the only one of five displayed in that module that doesn’t have a rating? Google is quick to remind partners who might be reticent that “In initial tests, product ratings also helped increase click-through-rates of Product Listing Ads.” Pow. How can you not participate knowing that?

But therein lies the catch: If you do want to participate, you’re going to have to add your site’s product review content to the list of data points that Google requires for each displayed product.

This means that all participating partners are effectively donating valuable ratings data to Google, without any additional compensation. Moreover, participating and sharing this data in no way guarantees that ratings will appear beneath your products, as the blog post somewhat ominously warns: “please note that just because a product has reviews does not mean that we’ll always show ratings.”

Why this caveat when a partner agrees to share its data? Presumably it’s Google’s way of covering its butt in the event that the merchant’s review data is the only data available and thus less likely to be a trusted assessment of product quality. According to Google, “the 5-star rating system represents aggregated rating and review data for the product, compiled from multiple sources including merchants, third-party aggregators, editorial sites and users.” By that definition, a single source of ratings data will not meet Google’s criteria for display purposes.

While there’s no question that Google is the ultimate beneficiary of this new ratings display scheme, there’s an upside for shoppers too. As merchants quickly figure out which of their products have a high aggregated rating score and which don’t, they’ll likely favor the highest-rated products for inclusion in Google’s Shopping module, in the hopes that the higher rating will offer the most converted clicks from shoppers.

Being shown the highest-rated products at the top of a search results page is a time-saver for shoppers.

For now, the ratings display system will be limited to merchants targeting U.S. consumers, but Google plans to roll it out to internationally targeted ads “soon.”

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/31/amazon-style-product-ratings-to-hit-google-shopping-modules/feed/01517382Amazon-style product ratings to hit Google Shopping modulesFacebook hosts 10 times more TV conversation than Twitter, but gets much less credithttp://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/facebook-hosts-10x-more-tv-conversation-than-twitter-but-gets-much-less-credit/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/facebook-hosts-10x-more-tv-conversation-than-twitter-but-gets-much-less-credit/#commentsTue, 15 Oct 2013 19:16:58 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=838321Twitter gets all the glory, but movie and TV marketers should be aware that Facebook actually has a much larger share of the second-screen conversation than the soon-to-IPO social network of the now.
And, the buzz lasts much longer.
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Twitter gets all the glory, but movie and TV marketers should be aware that Facebook actually has a much larger share of the second-screen conversation than the soon-to-IPO social network of the now.

“Twitter tends to spike really fast, but that spike actually goes down again quite quickly,” ShareThis VP Andy Stevens told me last week. “There’s actually a lot more conversation that takes place across Facebook and Reddit.”

It’s true that the conversation on Facebook and Reddit is slower to hit, but it’s also longer-lasting.

ShareThis says that in its recent study examining social sharing of the new fall TV lineup, Facebook accounted for a massive 78.8 percent of social shares, by far the largest percentage. Reddit had 8.8 percent, while just 8.4 percent of social sharing activity about TV programming occurs on Twitter.

There are a number of reasons for that, Stevens says.

“Not everyone watches TV live anymore …. we use our DVRs, Hulu, or Netflix to watch.”

Besides that, of course, there’s also the fact that Facebook simply has a much bigger audience than Twitter — well over a billion to Twitter’s couple of hundred million (most of whom are overseas). And that the half-life of a tweet is minutes, compared to hours or days on Facebook, and months on sites like Pinterest. So the spike on Facebook, while slower, is much longer, and much bigger.

So Twitter’s immediacy, which is its core strength, could also be its core weakness — from a marketing point of view.

What that means, according to Stevens, is that marketers need to think about more than one channel. And that Facebook, which has almost felt a little ignored by old-school broadcast media in the rush to have real-time second-screen social activity, is a network that might ultimately drive more value.

“Facebook has a much larger userbase, and people are much more active on Facebook,” Stevens told me. “It’s driving a lot more activity.”

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/facebook-hosts-10x-more-tv-conversation-than-twitter-but-gets-much-less-credit/feed/1838321Facebook hosts 10 times more TV conversation than Twitter, but gets much less creditTwitter may be buying TV analytics startup Bluefin Labshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/02/04/twitter-buys-bluefin-labs/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/04/twitter-buys-bluefin-labs/#respondMon, 04 Feb 2013 23:31:19 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=616687Twitter is dead set on playing a vital role in the media industry, which is why rumors of its latest acquisition would make a lot of sense.
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The social network has allegedly purchased Bluefin Labs, a startup that provides social analytics for users while they watch television. The information comes from a BusinessInsider report published today that cites an anonymous source. We’ve reached out to Twitter for confirmation of the sale as well as further clarification of its terms.

The acquisition price, according to BI’s report, is said to be Twitter’s largest purchase ever. Bluefin Labs currently has about $20 million in funding from a variety of investors, so it’s likely that the acquisition price is quite a bit more than that — especially after last night’s Super Bowl 47 broke many viewing and participation records.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/04/twitter-buys-bluefin-labs/feed/0616687Twitter may be buying TV analytics startup Bluefin LabsHow to get more positive reviews for your business (the honest way)http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/09/how-to-get-more-positive-reviews-for-your-businesses-the-honest-way/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/09/how-to-get-more-positive-reviews-for-your-businesses-the-honest-way/#respondWed, 09 Jan 2013 16:37:12 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=601464GUEST: If you’ve ever thought about paying for inauthentic endorsements like this, you better pump the breaks because third party review sites are now making it as obvious as Snooki’s spray tan that you’ve invested in fake reviews.
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How often do you check online reviews before dining out or booking a hotel room?

If your answer is never, you’re probably 75 or older and think “yelp” is a sound a dog makes. But for the rest of us, we know that reviews are critical in influencing purchase decisions. So critical that someone even started a business writing favorable book reviews called GettingBookReviews.com (charging, of course, $99 a pop).

If you’ve ever thought about paying for inauthentic endorsements like this, you better pump the breaks because third party review sites are now making it as obvious as Snooki’s spray tan that you’ve invested in fake reviews.

Yelp recently created consumer alerts for business pages that remain for 90 days when they sniff out phony reviews. The alert reads the following: “We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business. We weren’t fooled, but wanted you to know because buying reviews not only hurts consumers, but also honest businesses who play by the rules.”

Similarly, TripAdvisor says they have “zero tolerance for fake reviews.” If they believe that a hotel review is contrived, they will remove the review, ensure that the property is penalized in the site’s rankings, and possibly even post a message alerting millions of travelers on what they’ve found.

A few “positive” reviews won’t stop customers from continuing to complain about your crappy service or overcooked food. Instead of taking the easy (and sleazy) way out, listen to the concerns your customers are voicing and improve your business. Social media and third party review sites have put the power in the hands of the consumer. Forever. If companies don’t become customer-focused, customer-centric, customer-obsessed, they risk tarnishing their brand reputation and ultimately, losing their company.

How to improve online ratings the honest way

The problem that many business owners face is that reviews on third party review sites might not legitimately reflect the satisfaction of their customers. Many know they have happy diners or guests; but as the saying goes, “Haters gonna hate.” Pissed off customers are sometimes more inclined to write a damaging review while the satisfied customers will recommend the restaurant or hotel at a cocktail party instead of putting their praise online.

Here’s the solution:

Find those customers who are enthusiastic about your brand, product, or service (AKA your authentic Brand Advocates), and make it drop dead easy for them to write raving reviews.

Ask your customers via email, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, website, or elsewhere: “On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our brand to your friends?” Those who answer 9 or 10 are your Advocates.

Give Advocates the tools to rate and review your product or property, or direct them directly to the relevant third party review site where they can give you a 5-star review.

By identifying your Advocates, you’re creating a virtual marketing force that you can leverage for much more than just reviews. They’ll gladly share offers or other announcements like a new location opening, a new chef, or a remodel of your hotel with their social networks. They’ll create personal stories about how they rekindled their love at your resort or made a new friend with one of the gregarious employees who waited on them.

Whatever you do, don’t pay for reviews or recommendations of any sort. There is no longer room for businesses that don’t understand the importance of authenticity and transparency in the era of social media.

Instead, tap into the enthusiasm of your highly satisfied customers and empower them to fight negative word of mouth for you.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/09/how-to-get-more-positive-reviews-for-your-businesses-the-honest-way/feed/0601464How to get more positive reviews for your business (the honest way)The “Nielsen family” is so last century, ratings now to be based on tweetshttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/17/nielsen-twitter/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/17/nielsen-twitter/#commentsMon, 17 Dec 2012 18:40:26 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=591380It's one small step for Twitter, one giant leap for the legitimacy of second-screen data for marketing purposes.
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Nielsen has just announced a new form of television ratings. The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will tell us all how socially engaging a given program is, based on Twitter users’ conversations and updates.

It’s one small step for Twitter, one giant leap for the legitimacy of second-screen data for marketing.

With a new agreement between the two entities, Nielsen will have data from Twitter that will allow it to create a “syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter.” Both parties say the new metric should be ready for the beginning of the new television season in the fall of 2013.

“Ultimately, we have one goal for this new metric: to make watching TV with Twitter even better for you, the TV fan,” Twitter media chief Chloe Sladden wrote today on the company blog.

For its part, Nielsen said in a statement that it considers Twitter the best source of real-time social data on TV shows. Most importantly, the vast majority of tweets are public rather than private, meaning Twitter data is easier to access than data from just about any other social source.

Twitter data won’t replace Nielsen’s current system of TV-tracking boxes; rather, it will act as a supplement in an industry (the ad industry) where more information is always better.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/17/nielsen-twitter/feed/2591380The “Nielsen family” is so last century, ratings now to be based on tweetsGoogle finally does something with Zagat, adds reviews with launch of Google+ Localhttp://venturebeat.com/2012/05/30/google-plus-local-zagat/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/30/google-plus-local-zagat/#respondWed, 30 May 2012 15:22:20 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=462838Google surprised a lot of people last fall when it announced that it was buying restaurant ratings company Zagat. Now, Google is finally making some moves with the buy via Google+ Local, an overhaul of Google’s local search. With the revamp, Zagat reviews are now a key part of Google+ Local. The new local search adds […]
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With the revamp, Zagat reviews are now a key part of Google+ Local. The new local search adds restaurant ratings to Google Search, Maps, and as a new tab in Google+. Google will also be updating its Google Maps app for Android and iOS to add in new Google+ Local results.

As for the design, you’ll notice that Google’s five-star reviews are gone and replaced with Zagat’s 30-point scale. On the Google+ side, the Zagat reviews are joined by personal recommendations of connected Google+ users, which adds another layer of relevancy to search results and reviews. Clearly, Google is still serious about integrating all of its services into one cohesive whole.

All in all, it appears that Zagat is finally justifying the $151 million that Google paid for it. At the time of the acquisition, Google said that the Zagat reviews would become a cornerstone of its local offerings. Judging by the recent shifts and changes, its clear that that’s still true.

You can see a video detailing Google+ Local below:

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/30/google-plus-local-zagat/feed/0462838Google finally does something with Zagat, adds reviews with launch of Google+ LocalGoogle Maps update for Android shows one reason Google acquired Zagathttp://venturebeat.com/2011/09/09/google-maps-android-zagat-acquisition/
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/09/google-maps-android-zagat-acquisition/#respondFri, 09 Sep 2011 18:36:26 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=329061Google quietly updated its Google Maps app for Android this week, a move that helps shed more light on the company’s local search strategy and its decision to purchase reviews service Zagat yesterday. Specifically, Google Maps version 5.10.0 now lets users add specific photos to Places and automatically shows places they’ve rated 4 or 5 […]
]]>Google quietly updated its Google Maps app for Android this week, a move that helps shed more light on the company’s local search strategy and its decision to purchase reviews service Zagat yesterday.

Specifically, Google Maps version 5.10.0 now lets users add specific photos to Places and automatically shows places they’ve rated 4 or 5 stars on the map, which gives them a better look at places they’ve enjoyed in the past. To illustrate, you can now take photos of food or decor from a restaurant and easily attach it to a location.

The new features show that Google wants users to take Places and its reviews more seriously when using their smartphones. Right now, the reviews pull from CitySearch and random users. Zagat’s reviews will bolster that selection.

Zagat’s reviews might encourage more users to actually check Google Places for recommendations and to write reviews. Google basically wants you to pull up Google Maps rather than apps such as Yelp and Urbanspoon.

When I wrote about Google’s Zagat buy yesterday, I saw it as Google’s chance to take away share from Yelp when it comes to reviews. It appears that attack on Yelp and other competitors will come on several fronts, with the desktop and mobile versions of Maps and search.

Google has learned that if you don’t have a good reviews ecosystem in place, there’s little incentive to post there, even if it’s super easy to access. When Zagat’s content starts showing up in Maps and on the staggering number of Android phones in the marketplace, look for Google Places to finally start exploding.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/09/google-maps-android-zagat-acquisition/feed/0329061Google Maps update for Android shows one reason Google acquired ZagatGoogle launches local business-recommendation engine Hotpothttp://venturebeat.com/2010/11/16/google-hotpot/
http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/16/google-hotpot/#commentsTue, 16 Nov 2010 15:06:45 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=227113Google today announced on its blog the release of Hotpot, a recommendation engine for local businesses based on you and your friends’ ratings. Hotpot is an addition to the company’s Google’s Places initiative, a campaign to get local business owners to claim their venues, verify information and engage with customers. Hotpot is a pretty simple concept, […]
]]>Google today announced on its blog the release of Hotpot, a recommendation engine for local businesses based on you and your friends’ ratings. Hotpot is an addition to the company’s Google’s Places initiative, a campaign to get local business owners to claim their venues, verify information and engage with customers.

Hotpot is a pretty simple concept, but when connected with a business directory of more than 50 million places, it can be a powerful consumer tool. Users sign-in and are prompted to search for a general theme and establish their location. The default search is “restaurants”, and Google did a decent job of finding me without me having to put in my exact location. For accurate results, take the time to enter your town; otherwise, you may end up with results that are 50 miles away.

The real recommendation part of the feature comes from users proactively rating businesses they’ve patronized. Ratings are on a 5 star system — 5 stars being excellent and 1 star being terrible. As a user rates places, Google’s Hotpot determines other places the person may be interested in visiting. For example, if I rate an Italian restaurant very high, the tool may suggest other Italian restaurants.

If you decide to share your ratings with friends, you can then see places they recommend. The idea is that if someone is your “friend”, then they may like similar food, clothes, etc. Google gives the example of visiting a foreign town and being able to look up ratings left by a friend who’s a local.

Hotpot is a pretty simple recommendation engine, but when coupled with Google and its consumer reach it could be a fairly popular resource. The tool appears to combine the best of two worlds: Yelp and its reviews and Foursquare’s sharing of someone’s location.

Several other companies already have similar offerings on the market, including SoGeo, a service that collects and analyzes location data for users, which recently unveiled Whatser, a free mobile application that suggests where to go based on places that you like and that your friends like. Foursquare may also be testing a new recommendation feature for its popular mobile check-in application based on the large amount of data it has on the businesses its users frequent.

Google has also created a Hotpot rating application so that users can quickly and easily rate and find friends while on their phones. The company also upgraded Google Maps on Android to allow users to input and view ratings on the go.